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.She saw an elderly gardener shaking his fist at her just before her enemy started to run.He was in the air, propelled by his own motion, seconds later.Gwen watched him fly almost naturally, and then gave chase.The next rooftop was only yards away.They landed on the building and stared at each other.“Master Thomas chose well,” Master Jackson said.His voice was calm, yet intensely focused.He sounded, Gwen realised, like Master Thomas.There was none of the assumed superiority of Lord Blackburn, or the earnest shyness of Lombardi.“You’re not too bad at this.”Gwen flushed.Praise always disarmed her, if only because she’d had so little in her life.“Thank you,” she said, seriously.“Please would you come with me.?”“I’m afraid not,” Master Jackson said.His smile grew wider.Gwen wondered, just for a moment, if he was sane.Some magicians went mad, like the children Master Thomas had shown her.And Master Thomas had certainly implied that his former pupil was insane.“Things to see, people to do – you know how it is.”He leapt into the air, over to the next mansion.Gwen followed him a second later, watching as he landed neatly on the roof, before leaping to the building after that.Scowling, Gwen leapt after him.He turned and half-bowed to her, before tossing a blast of magic that she had to duck.It would have burned through her magic if it had hit her.He hadn’t even used his hand to shape the magic, she realised, numbly.Even Master Thomas had to use his hands.unless he’d kept a few secrets to himself.Gwen knew that she was far from practiced enough to take his place.Master Jackson leapt to the next building, and then the next, daring her to follow him.Gwen could no more have stopped than she could have accepted her mother’s choice of husband; if she arrested the rogue Master herself, or killed him, no one would question her right to become the Royal Sorcerer.Or Royal Sorceress, in her case.The city grew darker as they moved further and further into London.Gwen realised that the smog had stained the buildings, despite the best efforts of their inhabitants.A small bunch of children hiding on the roof – no, she realised; living on the roof – scattered as the two magicians passed through their territory.The next rooftop held a finely dressed woman carrying an umbrella and chatting to a chimney sweep.She nodded to Gwen and raised her hat to Master Jackson.Gwen had hardly any time to notice her before leaping onwards to the next building.Master Jackson was moving with terrifying speed.He settled on a rooftop and dived into a hatch leading down into the building.Gwen followed him through the hatch, pausing long enough to generate and throw down a grenade ahead of her.The explosion illuminated a dark interior, a building that had been consumed by fire and abandoned by its inhabitants.Master Jackson, half-hidden in the shadows, threw a burst of magic at the roof.Gwen raised her magic to cover her head as the roof came tumbling in, giving Master Jackson just enough time to catch himself and fly out of the building, heading up into the cloud of smog.Muttering a word her mother would have been appalled to think Gwen knew, Gwen followed him.By the time she pulled herself into the open, he was several buildings away and heading towards the Thames.Heedless of the dangers, Gwen followed him, drawing on her magic to the limit.She flew through the air, giving chase and hoping that he wouldn’t sense her presence until it was too late.It was a vain hope; he turned, pointed his finger at her – and, a second later, she felt him attempting to disrupt her magic.She fell towards the ground and only caught herself moments before she would have crashed into hard stone and died.Master Jackson hovered in the air above her, his bright eyes mocking.Gwen reached up with her own magic and tried to pull him down to the ground, but nothing happened.His control was far finer than hers.But then, he’d had years to study under Master Thomas and more years just to practice.Gwen had had barely two months.It wasn’t anything like enough time.A hand caught onto her dress and yanked her backwards.She gasped in shock as she saw a ruffian wearing rags pulling her backwards, one hand grasping towards her breast.Pure rage ran through her and she shoved with her magic, sending the street thug flying into the nearest building.Gwen heard the sound of bones breaking and saw blood splashing out where he’d hit the building, feeling sick as she saw her would-be rapist fall to the ground.Dear God in Heaven – had she killed him? She had never even seen a dead body in her entire life.The thought of killing someone, no matter how unpleasant.she found herself being violently sick, throwing up everything she’d eaten at David’s dinner party.How could she have killed a man? She’d killed a man [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]